New Benelli Adventure Bike - Not much DS

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Zonkelnut

Race Dog
Joined
Jan 30, 2006
Messages
1,112
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5
Location
Gauteng
Bike
Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin
From https://www.xrv.org.uk

Here is my report on what was probably the first UK consumer test ride on a Benelli Tre 1130 K (TREK)
I arrived at Real World Motorcycles (www.realworldmotorcycles.com) at about midday, weather was fantastic, perfect for riding clear, sunny warm and dry
There was the bike sat in the back workshop, Martin the owner of the shop had ridden it to brake it in, then given it it's first oil change etc, so now it was ready to ride again
Martin joined me on an R1 that needed testing and Clappy on his Fazer thousand
I'm the first to admit that I'm a long way from being a fast road rider, I have a tendancy to pootle around admiring the scenery so please take this into account when reading this
First impressions was that it was a very good looking bike, it oozes character in typical Italian style, getting a leg over wasn't difficult as I'm used to tall off-road bikes, having said that others that have sat on it found it very tall and bolt upright, I disagreed and said if you think that's bolt upright you ought to try out my KLR , personally I found the riding position to be very much like my old VFR800i though maybe a tad taller, even at my meagre stature of 5'7" I could still get the balls of both feet down and the bike was light enough for it to be no issue at all, I could even put the stand up before mounting the bike without fear of it toppling over as I mounted it.
The seat was decidedly sporty looking and though I didn't test it the pillion pad looked more like a sport bike version than a big trailie and seemed to just pay token value to carrying a passanger, though of course it may be very comfy but I didn't get to test it out, firing it up was easy and it gave a raunchy crisp note that was very familiar but slightly stiffled (more later).
THe Trek has a dual mapped CDI with a button on the dash to switch to full on manic riding mode if you wish, I didn't wish as I know my limits and this thing in soft mode goes way beyond my riding abilities, it's got oodles of grunt saving me from having to up and down through the gears, it just pulled no matter what gear I was in. we headed for some very nice local twisties and I soon found that this isn't really a big traillie at all, it's a jacked up full on sports bike far more aimed at the Multistrada than at the GS, the suspension is solid and o more than one occasson I got flicked out of the seat, the lean angle towards teh bars was ever so slightly forward giving an upright but agressive slant, the tank is perfectly shaped to allow you to grip it with your knees to take any weight off your arms when in slow moving traffic and it had plenty of room there for taller riders knees too.
Getting on the gas was exhilerating and hammering it out of bends was a thrill, it tracked perfectly and you only had to look through a bend and the bike followed your eyes, no need to deliberately counter steer here.
We took the opportunity to stop at a burger bar for some pictures/video and of course a greasy lunch, then not long after we headed back.
I'd had teh feeling that I was holding Martin up as he's a much more experienced and faster rider than me so I took the bull by the horns and blatted past him in order to gee him up, it worked a treat and within 300 yeards he was past me on off into the horizon, I know without a doubt that a more capable rider would have been with him all the way, this is a mean machine that is comfortable enough to cross continents and strong enough to go way beyond ordinary big traillie thrills, yes it a lose your license whilst still in first gear machine.
Wind protection on the Treak was fantastic, I wore my Marushin X-Moto helemet which is very similar to an Arai XD with a peak and I had no lift on the peak, no buffeting or excessive noise either, the screen is adjustable too but it was already set perfectly for me
Getting back to that stiffled but ever so sweet engine note, on the way back I figured what it sounded like...
A Ferrari on song that what it was, just like it in fact, apparently there is a less restrictive can available for it and I bet it really turns heads
To summarise it..
If your coming off a big traillie you'd say it was a sport bike, if you was a sport bike rider you'd say it was a supermoto with a sportbike engine, personally I mostly said "Holy crap in yer old tin hat !"

Benelli Trek Video = https://www.riderz.co.uk/vids/trek.wmv
Many thanks to Martin of Real World Motorcycles for indulging my curiosity

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With a bit larger Wheel

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